Windows Vista i think ive knakerd my cdrive

[theted]

hi,ive been trying to dualboot my pc with win xp..my pc has vista preinstalled,..ive made ia right mess of it ..so i thought i would just load my backup disc to get it back to factory default settings and everything would be ok..so i put my backup disc in and pressed f12 to get into the boot menu,from there i got 4 options,removable/hard disc/cdrom/network...i selected cdrom,then it went to loading ramdisk image,..i then selected the language/restore to factory default/then click ok...after a few minutes i got a message saying "restore failed-reason..0xa0000003..then it said click to restart computer...then it went to a black screen with a message saying."verifying dmi pool data...its been running for 15 minutes but nothing semms to be happening..how long to i leave pc on this "verifying dmi pool data"...hope someone can help me out with this problem..the computer is a standard acer e380 deasktop...

???FORGOT TO MENTION WHEN I PUT THE XP DISC IN I GOT A MESSAGE SAYING C DRIVE NEEDS TO BE FORMATTED IT SAID THAT IT WAS RECOMMENDED..SO I HIT THE OK BUTTON...now i cant get my recovery disc loaded to take it back to factory setting's...thanks theted

 

[muckshifter]

oh boy ... ouch!

Yep, you really screwed that one up ... sorry, that comment will not make you feel better ... but I have more bad news.


Acer, along with nearly every other manufacturer, have a hidden partition on the hard drive to aid in system restore. err, I would bet you managed to deleted that with XP CD.

Acer also use FAT32 for their HDs, bloody stupid pillocks, XP will normally use NTFS to format the drive.

You may have to revers XPs format and re-format to FAT32 to get your restore discs to work.

One more potential problem, your comment on "verifying dmi pool" means there is a problem with the HD ... at this stage, it just may well be a lack of a proper format ... I dunno.

As a rule of thumb ... setting up a dual-boot system requires the Older of the two OSs, especially Windows, to be installed first ... going the other way will give you the sort of problems you had.

Also, Vista uses a different boot-loader, just help feckup the novice even further ... nice way to try and stop people dual-booting Linux, but Linux is a little more clever than Windows.


So, what to do ...

Did you actually get a real Vista DVD?

 

[theted]

hi muckshifter,the pc brand new,it came preinstalled with the new vista os..it was a bit of luck that i made a backup disc..the problem started when i pressed the format button..it went to 95% formatted..i took the disc out and thought that it would be just a matter of putting the recovery disc in which i did,it loaded the ramdisk image..i then hit the language i wanted,then i got a message saying that it will overwrite the c drive..i hit ok,thats when i got the error message saying restore failed..reason =0xa0000003..the pc still under guarantee,do u think it would be worth a try and take it back to the shop i bought it from.lol...is there a way to get into the safe mode muckshifter?..help

 

[muckshifter]

If you "formatted" the HD there will be no 'Safe Mode' to use ...


You could try rebooting and using Alt F10 as you did with F12 ... Alt + F10 should look for the hidden partition and boot/reload your OS ... not sure if that will work, worth a try.

You could, cheekily , take it back to the shop and simply tell them you have an error ... don't give 'em any info on what you did though ... however, if the 'shop' has a good techie working for them, he/she will know someone had been 'messing' around.

As usual, with a real copy of Vista this is a dawdle to fix. I just cannot understand the mentality of why manufacturers supply a "recovery" CD as opposed to the Real OS CD ... what is the difference in cost??? Hell, it would make my bloody job 100 times easier.

The "recovery" DVDs you got are supposed to work without using the hidden partition, but, we are talking Acer here. As I said, using XP to format may have used the wrong/right partition table, as in NTFS instead of the crappy FAT32 Acer wallies use.

 

[theted]

hi,is there no other way to get the vista o.s. back muckshifter..i got the pc from comet,thanks for all you're help...theted

 

[muckshifter]

Sorry, not that I can see ...


I will not tell you to ... Phone Comet, tell them there is something wrong with your PC and when can you take to them for fixing ...

 

[theted]

ok muckshifter,i'll phone them tomorrow ..i'll let u know how i get on...thanks theted